People on the Move

Attention, a global social media agency that is an arm of KBS, has hired Asif Khan, Tim Gunatilaka, and Ben Krantz as VP/strategy & analytics, director of content, and creative director, respectively.
 
“Asif, Tim and Ben all have deep social and content roots but provide a broader purview of the marketing landscape, which is important to us as we continue to innovate for and with our clients,” said president of Attention, Tom Buontempo.
 
Kahn will be responsible for bringing a fresh perspective to Attention’s strategy and creative team, and showing the agency how data and creativity are inextricably linked. Prior to joining Attention, Khan led the strategy department at VICE Media’s Carrot Creative where he played an instrumental role in winning several pieces of new business, including Chipotle as its first ever-social AOR and several Unilever brands. He is also responsible for building the Carrot Strategy team from 3 to 15 members. Before joining Carrot, Asif held various strategy roles at branding, experiential and digital agencies after first starting his career in market research.
 
Gunatilaka’s background in journalism will allow him to bring an audience-first perspective to Attention’s storytelling capabilities. Previously, as associate director of content and social strategy at KBS, he helped launch the digital magazine IQ by Intel, among other branded content platforms. Before that, he served as head of content innovation at OMD where he oversaw GE’s foray into podcasts and virtual reality. Earlier in his career, he was a journalist for publications including Entertainment Weekly, SPIN and Paper Magazine.
 
Krantz has built a reputation for his ability to create authentic conversations and experiences for brands. As creative director at Attention, he is making an immediate impact on the creative department, including the agency’s own rebranding efforts. For nearly a decade, Krantz has led and developed groundbreaking campaigns across digital, social, traditional and experiential platforms for clients including Mercedes-Benz, American Express, Citibank and P&G. Previously, Krantz served as associate creative director at Tribal Worldwide and Publicis.
 
Attention recently launched an L.A.-based influencer studio, Meat & Produce, dedicated to leveraging the craft of a raw creator base, fostering brand collaborations and helping the influencer community build a business around their talent.

Lachlan Badenoch has joined Carmichael Lynch as the agency’s chief strategy officer.

Badenoch comes aboard Carmichael Lynch after a nearly 20-year strategic track record, most recently running an independent consultancy and working at Minneapolis-based strategy agency Zeus Jones, where he lent his extensive cross-discipline global experience to drive business thinking and marketing innovations for clients such as Nestle, GMI, Purina and others.
 
Badenoch was previously based in Paris directing global strategy for Publicis Groupe’s multi-market, multi-agency clients, including Nestlé and Orange. Before that, he spent time at Fallon Minneapolis where he served as planning director on the BMW, Brawny and Purina accounts. He started his strategy career at Leo Burnett London, where he helped pioneer digital and brand entertainment projects for Heinz, Nintendo, McDonald’s, Virgin, and other major brands.

“The opportunity for brands today necessitates not just integrated thinking, but the ability to execute truly interdependent actions and ideas that aren’t bound by traditional definitions – they must span business decisions and marketing touchpoints,” said Badenoch.  “I’m proud to be able to join a team where we have world class analytics, strategic thinking, creative, media and PR capabilities all organized as one interdependent team, under one roof. That means we can not only help identify the right thing to do for our clients’ businesses, but actually help them do it brilliantly.”

Maria Smith has been promoted from creative director to executive creative director at M&C Saatchi LA. As ECD, Smith will lead M&C Saatchi LA’s creative team and initiatives. She will also work closely with founders, CEO/partner Huw Griffith and chief strategy officer Kate Bristow, to direct the agency’s creative voice and output. 

Smith has been a creative director, associate CD and copywriter for 12 years, nearly 10 of which have been with M&C Saatchi LA. She started her creative career as a copywriter at TBWA\Tequila, with a focus on digital advertising. She then became part of an integrated team at TBWA\Chiat\Day, where she worked on Nissan, Infiniti, Sony and Energizer. While at M&C Saatchi, she has contributed to award-winning campaigns for the San Diego Zoo and Epson.

Global digital production company MediaMonks has appointed S. Jason Prohaska, and Gradwell Sears to the roles of managing director and creative director, respectively. They join Jouke Vuurmans, Ola Björling, David Estis and Nathalie Visser to complete the New York leadership team.

Prohaska has nine years under his belt as partner and managing director of creative digital agency Big Spaceship. He has also held leadership positions at Mattel, Your Majesty Co., Method, and HUSH. He is an original co-founding member of SoDA and began his career building fine art collections and visual imaging platforms for artists, collectors and museum foundations in the U.S. and Europe.

Sears returns to New York from AKQA’s London office where he led global digital creative for Rolls-Royce, Virgin Holidays, MINI and BMW Art Car. He previously lived and worked in New York for over 14 years, developing and directing digital creative output for Kraftworks and Arnold Worldwide. 

As managing director, Prohaska will focus on creative business strategy, expanding NA and LATAM synchronization, U.S. talent development and culture building, while Sears will use his expertise to further extend the creative offerings across North and Latin America.

The team as a whole will continue to pave the way in AR/AI and VR under the leadership of Björling, and platforms, big builds and brand campaigns under the leadership of Vuurmans. Estis, who recently led the team for The Pro Walk, a four-room hero fan experience for Amex at the 2016 U.S. Open, will drive concept development across 2D and 3D film, connected experiences and experiential design.

“The use of creative technology is constantly expanding and MediaMonks is at the forefront of that,” said Prohaska. “With so much expertise and inspiring leadership under one roof it’s exciting to be able to work with such a combination of disciplines, from VR, AR-AI and 3D to experiential design and connected platforms. While my role is to bring the New York office to its fun-filled powerhouse potential, I’ll also be directly involved in brand strategy and creative technologies that are driving our industry.”